


FOR 



DRAUGHTING GARMENTS 



V. 



v.- 



BY THE 



IMPROVED 



SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 



COPYRIGHTED 1885, 



E. C. WHEELER. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



The time has arrived zvhen dresscutting has be- 
come a science, and in order to enable dressmakers 
to have per feet- fitting garments ivithout refitting 
they must adopt scientific principles, and thereby 
save time and money. 

We trust in placing these instructions before the 
public to be able to supply the wants of all engaged 
in this branch of industry. It is the latest improved 
method, and its merits eoocel all others. It gives 
perfect satisfaction and is claimed as Al. 

One great trial dressmakers usually have is to 
get a perfect fitting sleeve. In using the instructions 
hereafter given, your trials will be easily overcome. 

Hoping you will give it a fair trial and, judge it 
by its merits, 

I remain, 

Respectfully yours, 

E. C. WHEELER. 



2 

INSTRUCTIONS 

FOR 

DRAUGHTING GARMENTS 

BY THE 

IMPROVED SCIENTIFIC METHOD. 



Copyrighted 1885 by E. C. Wheeler. 

RULES FOR TAKING MEASURES. 

The measures must be taken correctly in order to have per- 
fect-fitting garments. To get the height of arm-pit, place the 
centre of tape-measure on the back of neck and draw it over 
the shoulders toward the front and there pass it close up under 
the arms and straight across the back ; then hold both ends in 
your left hand near the arm, then place a pin in the dress at 
the centre of back exactly above the edge of tape ; then remove 
the tape and measure from the neck-bone to pin. Extend the 
tape for length of back. 

Tight Chest Measure. Place the tape high up over the 
chest under the arms across the back ; draw the tape very 
tight. 

Length of Shoulder. Measure from the neck to the tip 
of shoulder. 

Waist Measure. Measure tightly around the smallest 
part of waist. 

Half "Width of Back. Measure from the side seam 
across the broadest part of the back, or from arm-pit and divide 
by two. 

Second Measure of the Back. Measure across the 
back from tip of shoulders and divide by two. 

Side Seam. Measure from point of arm-pit down to waist 
line, then from centre under arm to waist, and put the meas- 
ures down separately. 

Neck Measure. Measure from neck-bone inside of the 
collar, to the centre of neck in front and add half an inch. 

Half Chest. Measure from the centre of under-arm to 
the centre of front over the largest part of breast. 

Length of Point. Measure from the neck to waist line 
or the smallest part of waist. 

Hip Measure. Measure around the hip at a point 6f inch- 
es down from waist line or the required length of basque, and 
add 5^ inches. 



Two Inches Down Neck Measure. Measure two inches 
down from the centre of throat, and then from that point meas- 
ure across to the arm-size or the place where the arm-size 
should come. 

Trial Measure. Pass the tape over the largest part of the 
bust then under the arms across the back and add one inch. 

Sleeve Measure. Measure around the arm-size. Meas- 
ure around the largest part of the arm above the elbow. Bend 
the arm and measure around the elbow, and then the largest 
part of hand. Measure from the back at the point of arm-pit 
to the elbow, then carry to the wrist-bone for length of arm. 
Measure from the under-arm to hollow of arm and extend to 
wrist-bone. 

The around-arm measure is not used until the sleeve is 
draughted and then measure your pattern at the same point you 
took your measure ; if it does not correspond, curve it out or in 
until it does. Only large arms are liable to have a change made. 

Bend the elbow and measure from point of shoulder straight 
down to elbow. This measure is not used until the sleeve is 
draughted, then measure from the letter P on the top of sleeve 
to' the point of elbow. If the measures do not correspond, 
curve the line P until they do. 



RULES FOR DRAUGHTING THE BACK OF 
WAIST. 

Place the rule parallel wtth the edge of paper and draw a 
perpendicular line two inches from the edge ; before removing 
rule dot at the top end of rule, the height of arm-pit and half 
arm-pit, minus one-half inch, and the length of back ; then 
draw horizontal lines from the two centre dots. At the length 
of back dot, mark in one inch and draw a line to the top of 
first line, leaving a space of one-eighth inch between the two 
lines. 

To get the back of the neck, place the top of dart curve at 
the end of the last line drawn, and dot out your tight chest 
measure if it is thirty-four ; if more add one-sixteenth inch to 
every inch, if less take off one-sixteenth to every inch. To get the 
length of shoulder, place the square end of rule at the back neck, 
letting the number representing the length of shoulder strike on 
half arm-pit line (so called, but as stated above it is to be one-half 
inch less than half arm-pit) and draw a line for the shoulder ; 
get half width of back from inside line on arm-pit line ; curve 
with large curve placing the cross on the curve at the point of 
shoulder, and draw a curve line to the half width of back dot ; 
from this dot get the length of the side seam from arm-pit toward 



the bottom of waist and dot ; then draw a line from this dot to the 
length of back dot, — this line is called the waist line. Place the 
square end of rule on waist line at the first line and dot the waist 
measure in back waist scale ; from the second line mark If inch 
in on waist line and 1-g- inch on back arm-size up from the arm- 
pit line ; draw a line with large curve, placing the cross at dot 
on arm-size and curve to dot on waist line. After drawing 
this line keep the curve at the same point on the half width of 
back line and swing lower edge of curve one-fourth of an inch 
toward the under-arm from the line just drawn, and draw a 
line same as before. Place the dart curve on half width of 
back, dot and draw a line to waist measure dot. Extend back 
seam 6f inches down from side seam and draw a line for bot- 
tom of waist on same line. Mark out If inch and then three 
inches from back line, extend side forms to these dots ; the lines 
will cross each other near the waist. Place three inches on 
scale at the second line from centre of back line and mark out 
to one-sixth of the hip measure ; draw the hip line with dart 
curve to the waist line. Add a swell of one-half of an inch at 
bottom of basque to waist line with dart curve. See diagram. 



RULES FOR DRAUGHTING THE FRONT OF 
WAIST. 

Place the rule parallel with the edge of paper and draw a 
perpendicular line two inches from the edge, dot three inches 
down from top of line, and draw a horizontal line from this 
dot. Place the rule exactly on the first line so that the lower 
end of slant line on the rule will be at the junction of the first 
and second lines ; dot at the upper end of slant line. Draw a 
line from the junction to this dot, then extend the line to the 
upper edge of paper. 

To get the height of neck place the end of tight-chest scale 
at the junction of first and second line and dot the figure repre- 
senting the tight-chest measure on the perpendicular line ; place 
the star on the end of front neck scale at this dot and swing the 
scale around until the figure representing the neck measure 
strikes the slant line, then draw a line from the star to the slant 
line. 

To get your shoulder, place the centre of your back at the 
neck exactly on slant line, so that the tip end of neck just 
touches the front neck and dot width of back neck ; then hold 
it firm and swing your back around until your arm-pit line 
touches the straight line, then dot one-half inch below the point 
of back shoulder ; if the shoulders are very sloping lower it 
one-fourth of an inch more, if they are very square it is not 



necessary to drop them any or at least more than one-fourth of 
an inch ; then draw a line from dot to dot. Measure your back 
shoulder on this line, and take off from each end so that your 
back will be one-fourth of an inch longer than the front ; get 
the centre of shoulder and curve the same as you see in diagram. 
Make the neck one inch higher than it is at present. See dia- 
gram. 

To get the height of arm-pit, place the end of rule at the 
point where the shoulder and neck lines meet, and dot the 
height of arm-pit measure and draw a horizontal line ; this line 
is called the arm-pit line. Before removing the rule dot in half 
chest measure. Place the letter A on the rule at this dot, and 
dot at the number representing the tight-chest measure, and 
from this dot draw a perpendicular line. 

To get the length of point place the end of rule at the bottom 
of neck and dot on the first line that you drew the required 
length ; measure your under-arm seam on the perpendicular 
line and make it one-fourth of an inch less than your back un- 
der-arm seam and dot, and then draw a line from this dot to 
the length of point. This line is called the waist line. Meas- 
ure from the waist line up toward the half-chest, dot the same 
number of inches that was taken for the under-arm measure. 
Take your two-inches-down measure the same as you took on 
the person and dot ; place the neck scale so it will touch the 
shoulder point and the last dot made and curve the line, move 
the curve around to the next dot and draw a line and so on 
until the arm-size is complete. 

To get the darts, measure from the arm-pit line on the first 
line drawn, down Hve inches, and 2i inches down from the half- 
chest dot, and draw a line from dot to dot ; this line is called 
the dart line ; and then on this line dot out from the first line 
2^ inches and five inches, then place square end of rule at the 
junction of waist and first line and dot for your button space at 
figure 2 which is an average for most forms, — a large waist 
requires more according to taste. From this dot mark out 
four inches for biases, get the centre of four inches and then on 
each side of this centre dot out five-sixteenths of an inch and then 
get the centre of both spaces left and from those centres draw a 
line to the dots on the dart line ; this line is the centre of biases. 
Draw a line with the dart curve from the dots on dart line to the 
dots on each side of centre line. 

To get the size of waist, take your tape-measure and measure 
your back across at waist line, starting from second line and 
skipping the one-fourth inch space ; place the number of inch- 
es representing the measure of back at waist line on the front 



at the junction of the first and waist line and measure your but- 
ton space ; skip both biases but measure the space between the 
biases, then measure out to the number representing one-half 
your waist measure and dot ; from this dot add 2^ inches, if 
the waist measure is twenty-six, if more add one-eighth of an 
inch to every inch, if less take off one-eighth to every inch ; 
this is added for your French dart. Then curve with dart 
curve from the last dot on arm-size to last on waist line. Ex- 
tend waist line as far as needed. Get the centre of waist line 
from the last bias to under-arm seam ; on each side of this 
centre place one half as many inches as you added for the 
French dart, then draw a line from these dots to your arm-pit 
line, making the space at the top one-fourth inch less than the 
space on waist line ; between this line and the next line have a 
space of one inch at the top. From the waist line extend your 
waist 6§ inches, dot under the arm seam 6 J inches and draw a 
line for bottom of basque, and on this line measure 2f inches 
in for centre of the first bias, and 5 \ inches for centre of second 
bias line ; draw a line to the centre of biases on the waist line ; 
extend the bias lines with straight edge of rule to a point one- 
half inch each side of centre line. Place one-sixth of the hip 
measure at the point 6f inches down waist and measure by 
skipping the same as measuring the waist line, only you do not 
add any inches ; then dot in one half the hip measure, extend 
the under-arm line to this dot ; get the centre of the distance 
from the last bias to under-arm seam and draw a line to the 
waist line to the centre of French dart. Extend the French 
dart with the dart curve, towards the centre. Do not let the 
line cross the centre line at the bottom of basque line, unless 
the hip measure is very large and you cannot avoid it, in order 
to get the required measure for hip. Keep the shapes in pro- 
portion. Dot on the bottom of basque line from the second 
bias and last line of the same one-half inch and draw a line 
with dart curve to the waist line. See diagram. 



RULES FOR DRAUGHTING THE SLEEYE. 

Draw the line A one inch longer than the measure taken for 
the length of sleeve ; from the end of line A dot three-fourths 
of an inch and \\ inch, and from these dots and the top of line 
A draw lines BCD. To get the dot E, measure from the 
junction of the lines A and B one-fourth the number of inches 
your arm-size measures. To get the dot F deduct two inches 
from your arm-size measure and divide the remainder by two. 
Measure from the junction of the lines A and D the number of 



inches you have left. To get the dot H, measure from the dot 
E the same distance your under-arm measures to hollow of 
arm. Draw the line O from the bottom of line A. To get the 
dot L mark two inches up from the dot O and one inch outside 
the line A. To get the dot N, measure from the dot L, to the 
line 0, one-half of an inch longer than one-half the wrist meas- 
ure, and draw the line. Dot one inch from N for dot M. To 
make dot I, make it one inch in from dot H. To get dot K, 
measure from the dot F the distance you have in measuring 
from arm-pit to elbow. To get the line P, draw the line from 
E to F making a sweep of one-third the arm-size ; measure so 
as to touch the line B, ascertain the length of line P. Make 
dot G one-half of an inch less than the remainder of arm-size 
measure from dot E. Draw the line U and give it a sweep so 
as to make the arm the required size. To get dot J, measure 
from dot Gr, the same distance down that it is from F to K, 
and dot ; deduct two inches from the measure taken for the size 
of elbow, and divide the remainder by two, and have dot J the 
same number of inches from dot I that you have left after di- 
viding, and make dot K two inches beyond dot J. Take the 
rule and draw lines the same as in diagram. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 

To add two French darts. Proceed the same as in 
one in every respect until you get the one-half waist measure 
and then add three inches instead of the 2^ (more or less) 
making 1^ inch for each French dart, dot out from the last 
bias as many inches as there are in one third the space from the 
last bias to the one-half waist measure dot, and dot ; from that 
dot mark out 1^ inch for first dart, from there mark your space 
again, and then from there mark out another 1-J inch and the 
regular space will be left, and draw lines the same as in dia- 
gram. Get one-third of the bottom of basque line and draw 
lines to the centre of darts and curve the lines the same as in 
one dart. Two French darts are only used for stout people, 
such as thirty-inch waist or more. They are sometimes used 
w^ith one bias. 

To get one bias proceed the same as in two until you com- 
mence to measure for biases, then measure on top of dart line 
from first line 3£ inches and get button space 2^ inches, and 
then add 2^ inches for bias ; get the centre of the 2-J- inches 
and draw a line to the dot on dart line ; curve the biases and 
proceed the same as in two biases. One dart and one bias are 
generally used for outside garments or dressing sacks. 



To cut Jersey waists cut out the biases and all pieces of 
basque pattern separately, in order to be able to chalk on the 
lines you would in any other case trace. Allow for seams. In 
tracing you must always trace each piece separately so as to 
allow for seams, and trace every line except the arm-pit and 
top of dart line. It is very important not to forget the waist 
line. In basting the lining and the outside together you want 
to baste one-fourth of an inch inside the tracings, except the 
front arm and neck and waist line, these lines you baste in the 
tracings. Always baste the waist line first. After basting 
the waist line on front pieces, baste across again two inches 
from the waist line on each side and full the lining a little be- 
tween the waist line and second lines. The back you only 
baste the waist line and outside lines. In basting together 
place the waist lines together and baste above the waist line 
first, the front wants to be drawn tight on to the back ; the 
back side form is to be held loose while basting so as to lay 
smooth and not draw. Before basting the shoulders you want 
to stretch the front a little and let the back full a little on to the 
front. Put the points of the tracing together at the end of 
each shoulder seam. The bottom of basque is trimmed for the 
desired length, and then the outside is drawn over the lining 
and basted so the lining cannot hang loose. The three back 
seams can be stitched before trying on. Swell the front the 
same as in diagram. One-half of an inch is the largest part of 
swell. If the material is of silk or satin make the half chest 
measure one-half of an inch larger than for woolen material. 

Cut the front under arm piece 1-J- inch longer than you traced 
it. Cut open the biases within two inches of top and stretch 
them on the edge. In basting all seams be sure all tracings 
are kept together. After the garment is all basted you want 
to prove it and see if the garment corresponds with measures 
taken by measuring one-half waist line, and from straight line 
in front to half width of back just at the same point you took 
the measure on person and then measure arm-size. If they do 
not correspond, and your pattern is draughted correctly, you 
have lost or gained in tracing or basting or both. Never 
change the back curve seam after it is once basted up according 
to directions. 









: ■ 






-"- — ™— 


'«' •*"'""»""' •""'' 


Lv "-- <*•**«'-■■ 






""" i, ""»»»"*,„,„ B , j< 




/ 

: / 

/ 
















trr: 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



D 



013 964 958 8% 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 964 958 8 • 



Hollinger Corp. 
P H8.5 



